Nation Observes 111th Railroad Day
Gov¡¯t to build more high-speed railroads to make any population centers reachable in 30 minutes
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The 111th Railroad Day ceremony took place at the auditorium of the Railroad Twin Towers in Daejeon on Sept. 17 with a number of dignitaries and people in the railroad and related industries attending.
Vice Minister Kim Hi-kook of the Ministry of Land, Transport, and Maritime Affairs, in his congratulatory speech, said what the industry needs are very good operation systems, the best services and the continuous development of advanced technologies for the industry to become a top-class one in the world. He also congratulated the railroad industry and people in the related areas for its high-flying past development.
The vice minister stressed that the ministry will work to unite the country with diversified hubs by expanding the high-speed train network and, by so doing, develop high-speed rail as a new growth driver in the future.
Vice Minister Kim presented medals and citations to those who made contributions to the growth of the railroad industry, especially those at the Korea Railroad Authority.
Director Choe Soon-ho of the Personnel Labor Affairs Office of the Korea Railroad Authority got the Industrial Merit Iron Medal from the government for his contribution to the railroad industry¡¯s growth. Deputy Director Lee Wook-seong of the Korea Railroad Authority also received the Industrial Merit Iron Medal for his role in the development of the railroad system.![](image/201009-211-55-2.jpg)
Fifteen others were presented with government citations in recognition of their hard work for the development of the railroad, while 130 got citations from the Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.
From 2:00 p.m. to 5:40 p.m., following the ceremony, a symposium titled ¡°International Cooperation among Railroads in the Age of Globalization¡± was held with a number of invited speakers presenting their views on the subject including Boris Dynkin, rector of the Far East Transportation University in Russia; Le Jiandi, chairman of the Chinese Railroad No. 4 Rail Design Institute; and Director Lee Seung-ho of the Railroad Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, among others.
Director Lee said in his presentation that cargo trains generate one eighth of the CO2 compared to cargo trucks in terms of g-CO2/ton/km, at 8.4, which shows the need to build more railroads than highways.
In Japan, a magnet train will be introduced between Tokyo and Osaka, while building 1,173 km of Shinkansen high-speed rail, although it currently has 2,387 km of high-speed rail in operation.
China plans to build four major high-speed rails going north-south and east-west across its vast land totaling 1.7 km to expand its current high-speed rail extending for 3,300 km by investing 360 trillion won in the coming three years.
The United States has decided to build 11 high-speed rails extending for 13,760 km in the future at a cost of,$42.5 billion investing $10.5 billion annually for the next four years, Lee said.
Europe plans to expand its high-speed rail to 21,180 km by 2020 from the current 5,764 km, according to Lee.
Lee said the government has a vision to build a railroad-centered logistics network in Korea to the extent that the railroad will share 30 percent of passenger transport and 25 percent of total cargoes moved around the country.
The government aims to make all the population centers in the country reachable within 30 minutes from any point in the country by building more railroads, especially those linking industrial clusters. Ultimately, in so doing, the government intends to make the railroad a high value-added new growth driver.
The government plans to build more high-speed railroads around the country from now on including the 41-km long one linking Daejeon, and Daegu by 2014. The high-speed rail linking Osong and Gwangju stretching for 182 km will be built by 2014 and that for Mokpo and Gwanju some 49 km long will be completed in 2017, Lee said. nw
(photos from above) A number of dignitaries including KTX President Huh Joon-young, Rep. Song Kwang-ho, chairman of the Land, Transport and Maritime Committee of the National Assembly, and others cut the cake to celebrate the 111th Railroad Day at a ceremony held Sept. 17 at the auditorium of the Railroad Twin Tower building in Daejeon. ; KTX President Huh Joon-young gives a congratulatory speech at the ceremony for the 111th Railroad Day on Sept. 17 at the Railroad Twin Tower in Daejeon.
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